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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 23, 2010) – CTC Supply Inc., a wholesale distributor of heating and air conditioning systems based in Fayetteville, N.C., is proud to announce they have signed local BASS pro Marty Stone to a sponsorship agreement.

CTC Supply (Cumberland Trading Company) has been proudly serving the residential and commercial heating and air conditioning needs of southern North Carolina for 10 years.

“Hunting and fishing are a way of life here in North Carolina,” said Jimmy Cass, the General Manager of CTC Supply. “A majority of our customers are outdoors people so it’s a perfect fit to have Fayetteville’s own Marty Stone, a well-known name on the national fishing tours, to represent us. Having him promote CTC Supply will provide some great regional recognition and we look forward to some of the activities we have planned with Marty this year.”

Stone, a life-long resident of North Carolina, is a 15-year BASS pro and two-time winner on the BASS Elite Series.

As part of the sponsorship, Stone will do two personal appearance days at the CTC Supply headquarters in Fayetteville and will also host the winner of CTC’s “Day on the lake with Marty Stone” contest.

“CTC Supply is a great group of folks,” Stone said. “They are big into giving back to their clientele with customer appreciation activities. So this summer I’ll bring my truck and boat to their showroom for a couple of days to talk fishing and hunting with their customers. Then sometime in the fall I’ll take one of their customers fishing on a local lake of their choice as a prize for a promotional contest.”

“Most of my sponsors are national brands,” Stone continued. “But it’s important to me to have a hometown sponsor as well; it proves my credibility in the local community. I identify with these folks on a personal level because I grew up fishing the same lakes and ponds as they did.”

WETUMPKA, Ala. (Feb. 15, 2010) – The TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group is proud to announce that BASS Elite Series pro Marty Stone of Fayetteville, N.C., has joined the group’s National Pro Staff.

The TTI-Blakemore Fishing Group is a conglomerate of 10 companies offering a vast array of fishing products to catch just about anything that swims. Stone will specifically be representing Daiichi Hooks, XPoint Hooks, Bleeding Bait Hooks and Real Magic line lubricant and conditioner.

Stone is a 15-year BASS pro and two-time winner on the BASS Elite Series. His relationship with TTI-Blakemore began 10 years ago when he discovered the impressive qualities of Daiichi treble hooks.

“I’ve been buying Daiichi trebles as replacements hooks for my crankbaits for years,” Stone said. “My hook-up-to-landing ratio for stock trebles on crankbaits used to be about 50 to 60 percent. When I started putting Daiichi trebles on my crankbaits, it went to over 90 percent and I’ve been a loyal Daiichi user ever since.”

Stone’s success with Daiichi treble hooks led him to try XPoint offset worm hooks, which also improved his game.

“The points on XPoint hooks are indestructible,” Stone said. “The hook points do not bend or curl. I’ll use the same XPoint hook tournament after tournament because I’m confident that the point is just as sharp as the day I tied it on.”

In recent years, Stone has also become quite dependent on Real Magic line conditioner to keep his line clean and supple.

“Real Magic works on all lines: braid, fluorocarbon and monofilament,” Stone said. “When my line starts to get course, grimy and coily during a day’s fishing, I douse my spool down with Real Magic and it conditions the line, making it cast easier again.”

T.J. Stallings, Product Manager for TTI-Blakemore, is proud to have Stone joining the team.

“We’re certainly happy to have Marty on board,” Stallings said. “He has been a Daiichi and XPoint user for a long time. I’ve been keeping him in hooks for 10 years. And in that time he has also become quite a fan of our Bleeding Bait Hooks and Real Magic.”

“Marty has always been loyal to our products and now he’s officially part of our team,” Stallings added. “We look forward to working with him on researching new products in the future.”

This exclusive apparel featuring the stars and stripes with “Vic,” the Vicious Fishing logo, will be available Feb. 19-21 in the Vicious and PVA booths at the Classic Outdoors Expo in the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex.

Click on image to play video

Proceeds will be used by the PVA to further its sports and recreation programs that include fishing tournaments and competitive shooting.

“It was quite a shock when they contacted us about this idea and we immediately thought it was a great partnership,” said Alan Earl, associate director of the PVA Sports and Recreation division. “Vic is an awesome, unique logo and the addition of the American flag is a touch of patriotism we all can appreciate.”

“This is right up our alley as a veterans organization,” Earl added. “We’re thrilled to be working with Vicious Fishing. Birmingham is a super location and we look forward to seeing all the great fishing fans who will attend the Classic.”

Hoodies and T-shirts will be for sale at the expo in two locations. The Vicious booth is No. 2212 and “Vic” will be easily seen by fans. The PVA booth is No. 2651. A special purchase program also is available for retailers interested in carrying the exclusive series to further help PVA.

“PVA is a great organization and we wanted to do something to help them,” said Jeff Martin of JBS Fishing, the parent company of Vicious Fishing. “They always have been good to us and ‘flown our flag’ so to speak, and we believe this is a great opportunity for us to help give something back.”

PVA has more than 20,000 members and assists veterans with spinal cord injuries or disease with a variety of programs, research and legislative assistance.

“We fight for veteran benefits, help with the independent budget processes passed through Congress and help every veteran get what they deserve,” Earl said. “But we also help anyone with disabilities by assisting with federal ADA laws as well.

“Vicious has been a longtime sponsor of our PVA Bass Tour and we have a good relationship. The Vicious apparel is unbelievable … everyone loves “Vic” and wants it. To change it up and add a little patriotism, it’s great.”

Early response has been positive for the exclusive apparel that will be available. Martin believes it will be a hit with fans who want to help support PVA’s programs.

“The veterans PVA assists, as well as the PVA staff, have done a lot for our country,” he said. “Whatever we can do for them is still not enough.”

About Vicious: Vicious Fishing, a division of JBS Fishing based in Dora, Ala., includes Vicious-branded monofilament, fluorocarbon and braided fishing lines for freshwater bass, catfish, panfish, walleye, musky and saltwater species, along with casual lifestyle apparel. JBS Fishing is dedicated to performance and reliability, and strives to ensure that our top quality fishing products will always perform better than you expect. For more information visit www.vicious-fishing.com or contact Chris Dutton at chris@jbsfishing.com

About PVA: Paralyzed Veterans of America works to maximize the quality of life for its members and all people with SCI/D as a leading advocate for health care, SCI/D research and education, veterans’ benefits and rights, accessibility and the removal of architectural barriers, sports programs, and disability rights. For more information visit www.pva.org

Zoom Baits pro-staffer Marty Stone of North Carolina has tried different swimbaits since their popularity increased the last few years, but he’s especially excited about the new Zoom Swimmin’ Super Fluke due to its design.

“This is a pretty incredible bait,” Stone said of the latest addition to Zoom’s stable. “I think a lot of anglers on the East Coast are scared of swimbaits, if nothing else for the price point. But these will be under $5 a bag, not for just one bait, and they’re as simple to rig as possible.

“Two things really excite me about the Swimmin’ Super Fluke. One is the action, because with the keel-style design of the bait it has a really nice side-to-side roll. It doesn’t completely go over but has a good roll. Second, the taper of the section leading to the tail gives it an incredible thump.”

Stone said the new bait will work “wherever there is a swimbait bite.” The Swimmin’ Super Fluke has a soft texture perfect for rigging with an exposed hook for weedless applications or with your favorite swimbait hook in a weedless setup.

“The plastic’s soft, it will throw well, it’s easy to rig and it’s as simple as winding it back in,” Stone said. “My favorite way to rig it is with the JWill Swimbait Head from Buckeye Lures in the quarter-ounce size. That’s for fishing with an exposed hook, and if I want it weedless then I’ll use a 5/0 or 6/0 Daiichi Butt-Dragger hook with the belly weight.”

Stone fishes the Swimmin’ Super Fluke with 15- or 17-pound Vicious fluorocarbon with a simple Palomar knot. He believes that’s a good range of line size for being able to set the hook on a long cast, if necessary, but without harming the action by using a heavier line size.

Two things he looks for are good water clarity of at least 12-18 inches and a swimbait with a good, flexible body.

“As far as any plastic swimbait goes, I believe it has maybe the best thump,” Stone said. “If you hold a soft plastic swimbait horizontally by the head and the tail bends down naturally then it should work pretty well. If it doesn’t chances are it won’t work as well. With a swimming tail like this it needs the flexibility to move in the water.”

Stone has tried all the colors to see what they look like, but favors Watermelon Red as a good all-around color that can work in any part of the country.

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The Zoom Swimmin Super Fluke is available for purchase here at TackleWarehouse.com

Tacklewarehouse.com, an industry leader in online sales of cutting-edge tournament fishing tackle, is proud to announce that Elite Series Pro Marty Stone has joined the Tacklewarehouse.com National Pro Staff.

Stone, a 15-year BASS pro and two-time winner on the BASS Elite Series, will be joining forces with Tacklewarehouse.com to bring more awareness to the company’s brand among anglers on the East Coast and to keep tournament anglers informed on the latest tackle trends on the national tours through his own website, Martystone.com.

Tacklewarehouse.com is already a household name in the West when it comes to specialty tournament tackle. What sets Tacklewarehouse.com apart from other online catalog stores is their tireless effort to bring new tackle trends and hard-to-find tournament tackle to bass fishing enthusiasts across the globe.

“This is a once-in-a-million opportunity to be associated with a company that leads the way in bringing new fishing techniques to the consumer – something that is vital to the overall growth of our sport,” Stone said. “When it comes to being the first retailer to have a specialty product available for the consumer, no one does it better than Tacklewarehouse.com.”

In addition to their solid reputation for being first to the marketplace with the latest tackle trends and hottest lures, Tacklewarehouse.com is also known for their easy-to-use online ordering process and expedited order filling and shipping.

“The site is so simple and efficient to use, you can have tackle delivered to your home or straight to a tournament location,” Stone said. “It’s the greatest tackle store on earth no matter where you are.”

As Stone fishes across America on the BASS Elite Series this season, he will be providing updates on what’s hot in terms of lures and techniques in the pro fishing world on his own website.

“As pros we are often the first to witness certain trends on tour, such as the Chatterbait, Mop Jig or the big Lake Fork Spoon,” Stone said. “I’ll be reporting on these innovations from the road on Martystone.com and they will be hyper-linked to Tacklewarehouse.com so other anglers can be the first to own these hot lures on their own lake.

Rich Zeilenga, the COO of Tackle Warehouse, was the first to welcome Stone aboard.

“We are extremely excited to welcome Marty Stone to the Tackle Warehouse team,” Zeilenga said. “Marty brings a wealth of on the water and industry experience. Marty’s professionalism, work ethic and ability to communicate effectively are all qualities that we respect and admire. We look forward to a long successful relationship with Marty.”

Stone believes his unique partnership with Tacklewarehouse.com will forge new ground in the way business is done in the bass tackle industry.

“I think this new relationship between Tacklewarehouse.com and MartyStone.com is going to set a precedent for the way both media and marketing are done in the world of tournament bass fishing,” Stone added.

Rob Newell is a freelance outdoor writer who covers tournament fishing for FLWOutdoors.com and FLW Magazine.

Worried about the future of tournament bass fishing? Yeah, welcome to a sentiment that seems to be running rampant.

Without a doubt, the last 18 months in our beloved sport have been harrowing. Stagnant boat sales, endemic bankruptcies, deep cutbacks by sponsors, contractions by major tournament organizations, longtime pros leaving the sport – the depressing list of impacts to tournament fishing seems to grow daily.

Each week I speak with professional bass anglers who are at wit’s end as to what to do – either hang on and hope things improve in the industry, or go find something else to do for a living.

As a freelancer covering tournament fishing I’m very familiar with these internal struggles. Much like a professional angler, my living is tied directly to the overall health of our sport and consequently I haven’t been immune to the economic bursting of the bubble either.

Indeed, for those of us who cherish this sport, the uncertainty of the sport’s future has eaten us alive. Personally, this past fall was filled with many sleepless nights too. I haven’t had any fingernails since September – I’ve chewed them to nubs.

Back in November, as I grappled with the reality of having more free time in 2010, I decided to do something I haven’t done in a long time: I entered a few tournaments – specifically, the co-angler division of the Bassmaster Southern Opens.

I used to fish a lot more tournaments back in the day, especially as a co-angler, and I relished every minute of it. In fact, I arrived at the doorstep of outdoor communications through the love of tournament fishing. But when professional fishing reached a fevered pitch in 2007, I bowed out of the back of the boat to cover more FLW Outdoors tournaments and handle more freelance writing gigs. My rods and reels gathered dust as I invested my resources into new digital cameras, computers, software and video equipment to cover the sport I love.

So last week I blew the dust off the old sticks, spooled up some fresh line on my reels and headed south to Lake Okeechobee for the first Southern Open to get back out on the water with my fishing heroes and friends.

I promised myself to set aside my obsessions about competitive fishing’s future and just enjoy it like I used to. In short, what I found at the Big “O” was Big Medicine for what has been ailing me for the last few months.

Thanks to one lucky pitch in the reeds and an ensuing 5-pound bass that thrashed its way out of the matted reed clump and into the boat on day 1, combined with a few keepers on day 2, I earned a ticket into the Top-30 cut on day 3.

My pro partner on day 3 was none other than Davy Hite, as in two-time BASS Angler of the Year, past Bassmaster Classic champion and past Forrest Wood Cup winner Davy Hite. Yep, for the first time in a long, long time, I was totally amped out of my mind to go fishing again.

As Hite and I headed out across Okeechobee on that final morning, a sunrise that easily classified as one of the top three sunrises that I’ve seen in my lifetime painted the sky with hues of red and pink and every shade in between.

Once out into the main lake, the water became mirror flat with a thin fog that only rose about head high off the water. The slick water and mist blended into a unified horizon with God’s daily painting igniting the sky above. And though we were running at some 70 mph, without a ripple on the water, it felt more like we were floating on a surreal landscape.

And in that moment a shiver went down my spine as I suddenly recalled every reason I love the sport of tournament bass fishing. It’s undoubtedly the same feeling a surfer gets when catching the perfect wave. Or the sensation a pilot gets in that magical moment when the plane’s wheels actually leave the ground.

I was completely transfixed in that exceptional time and space when Hite tapped me on the shoulder and exclaimed into the rushing wind, “Is that the most incredible sunrise you’ve ever seen or what?”

In that second I realized that our sport of tournament bass fishing is going to be just fine.

Why would I make such a claim without some kind of proof, especially when things have seemed so grim?

Because here’s what I do know: Many of you reading this website know exactly what it feels like to run into a beautiful sunrise on tournament morning, filled with the anticipation and excitement of a brand new fishing day.

And that feeling never washes away or wanes – not against economic downturns, not against sponsor cutbacks, not against temporary leaves of absence from the sport.

Better yet, what about that tingly feeling you get in your chest when that first bass of the day “tongs” your line? There’s no substitute for that one.

Okay, how about hooking your final keeper on the last cast of the day, frantically scrambling to get it into the livewell – all while strapping down rods, pulling up the trolling motor and zipping up lifejackets – and making it back to weigh-in with seconds to spare? Yeah, as far as I know, that kind of rush doesn’t exactly come in pill form, either.

No matter what level fisherman you are – full-time pro, co-angler, club angler, or fishing the Tuesday-night fruit jar derby – the adrenaline rush that occurs in those rare moments while “chasing little green fish” and the camaraderie that comes with it are the common threads that bind us all. There simply is no substitute.

Many years ago I asked Takahiro Omori why he gave up his home in Japan to pursue a fishing career in America. I’ll never forget his response. A huge smile crossed his face as he exclaimed with certainty: “Once you’re born a bass fisherman, there’s nothing you can do about it – except go bass fishing.”

Amen, Tak.

Perhaps some big changes are inevitable. But I’m pretty sure that tournament bass fishing isn’t going to disappear into some economic black hole, never to be heard from again.

There are simply too many good people out here who long to run into the promising sunrise of a new tournament day – it’s the Big Medicine for all that ails us.

Hello and welcome to MartyStone.com, the official website of BASS Elite Series pro Marty Stone.

Okay, okay, I already know what you’re saying: “Great, another bass pro’s website that will not be updated.”

Not so fast. Before you hit that back button, let me explain.

Several years ago I didn’t feel a Website was a necessity for a professional angler because the sport was so well covered on television, Internet and magazines. The media followed pros on the water and off, into our trucks, hotel rooms and homes. Everything we did was a story – what pros ate for breakfast, what kinds of music we listened to, what color shoes we wore – anything you wanted to know about a contemporary pro on the BASS Elite Series could be found in the substantial amount of media covering the sport.

Well, fast forward to 2010 and welcome to professional bass fishing now. In short, the media craze for our sport has sort of fizzled. Why?

Well, the reasons are numerous. The sagging economy and intensive cutbacks on every level have impacted our sport severely.

And who knows? Maybe bass pros sort of wore out their welcome with so much coverage on mainstream outlets. Or maybe, just maybe, bass pros are really not that interesting to the masses. After all, the world’s greatest golfer and his love life are certainly way more interesting to the general public than a bass pro’s latest dance moves.

So, for a variety of reasons, professional bass fishing does not garner the sheer amount of coverage that it used to. But here’s what I do know: there is still a core group of fanatical tournament anglers out there who follow our sport for the pure love it and you folks want to know what’s going on out on the pro Tours, especially in terms of lures and techniques. And that’s the very reason I started my own website.

Yes, there are fishing websites out there that do a fine job of covering tournaments. But much of what you get from those sites is coverage of the top five pros for a particular tournament.

But what about the guy who jumped from 75th to 20th on the last day with a 25-pound bag? What happened to the guy who finished butt naked last? What about the guy who borrowed a lure from his roommate and ended up catching a 5-pounder on it at the last second to make the Classic? What about the guy who knocked his lower unit off and was forced to fish somewhere he never fished before and managed a solid check out of the whole ordeal?

You get the point: I’ve been that guy on many occasions and those stories of my tournament trials and tribulations will now be found here on MartyStone.com, told from my perspective of how things went down for me at each tournament.

This site will be updated with short blogs about what’s happening during and in between the tournaments. Then, after each event, I’ll post a post-tournament summary on my performance (good or bad), including how the fish were caught and what tackle trends are taking shape on the BASS Elite Series.

And here’s the best part: you the reader will have instantaneous access to all the equipment, lures and tackle making waves on the Elite Series thanks to a unique partnership between Tacklewarehouse.com and myself.

Tacklewarehouse.com has established itself as the industry leader in supplying America’s bass anglers – from top pros to weekend warriors – with the latest, greatest tackle and equipment, which can’t be found anywhere else.

Now, whenever something red hot like the Chatterbait, Sebile Magic Swimmer, Lake Fork Spoon, or Buckeye Mop Jig breaks on the Elite Series, you can read about it right here and click on the highlighted products to be linked directly to that product on Tacklewarehouse.com where you can view it, learn more about it and even order it to be delivered to your front door the next day.

As the season progresses I’ll have more announcements about my sponsor base, provide my personal opinions about the state of our great sport and most of all keep you informed on what the fish are biting across the country as I fish the BASS Elite Series and Northern Opens.

So for my first tips column here, I’d like to invite you to check in with MartyStone.com to get the latest on my tournament fishing adventures.